Chapter 3: The Turtle School's Secret Attack

Lychee picks at her food in the cafeteria. It has been about a week since that crazy afternoon happened. Matoto showed that he was a cunning and powerful warrior, she got a new vehicle, and they had some amazing cooking with a bunch of bear thieves. Though, throughout the time they were eating, Matoto was sitting next to Doboroguma, listening to the stories about some boy he met 300 years ago.
Matoto was an odd character. First he was friendly and ready to share his food with her. Then, he was throwing Bind to the wolves, or in this case, the bears. Then he was beating them all up like they were nothing. Then, all his opponent had to do was mention some kid he met 300 years ago and suddenly, they were the best of friends. It was like he was obsessed or something.
What was he even doing here? If Matoto is so strong and powerful, then why is he on a mountain near a backwater town like Paozu? He should be in the army or guarding the King of Nations. He could clean up.
That was when she remembered something…
“A  perfect place to raise a warrior” was what he said, she thought. Maybe that’s what he’s planning on doing. Maybe he’s trying to be a better warrior…
Either way, she was heading back up the mountain to ask him in person.
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Meanwhile, the bear thieves were unloading a haul they had just brought in.
“Where’d you get all this?” the Bear Thief asked Medved.
“From a convoy some rich bastard was escorting,” Medved answered. “Moron actually told us to turn ourselves in.”
Doboroguma, relaxing in his favorite chair and smoking his favorite pipe, laughed loudly at his grandson story.
“Sounds like he had more money than sense!” he said.
Everyone laughed at their grandfather’s joke.
Just then, a man came out of the forest.
He had icy blue eyes that could pierce through the hardest of souls. His features were sharp and angular, almost like a hawk. He also had his dark hair in a ponytail. He was wearing a purple chang pao long coat with the kanji for crane on the front and back. He was carrying a black bag.
“Hey, is that a friend of yours?” Doboroguma asked, looking at the man.
“I’ve never seen him before,” the Bear Thief said.
The man in purple walked up to the thieves and held out a photo.
“Have you bears seen this man?” he asked.
“And you are?” Medved answered with his own question.
“My name is of no concern to the likes of you,” the man in purple said. “Now, answer my question.”
“Maybe we know him and maybe we don’t,” the Bear Thief said. “What’s it to you where this guy is?”
“Like I said, that’s entirely none of your concern,” the man said once more.
“You know, boys,” Doboroguma said. “I think I’ve had enough of this jumped-up little turd. How about we beat him up and take his wallet?”
“Grandpa, that’s the best thing you’ve said all day,” Medved said as he began to draw his chain sickle.
The man sighed and put away the picture.
Medved swung his sickle down on the man while the man swung his fist and they both collided.
The man’s fist broke through the sickle, snapping it in two. The fist then slammed into Medved’s face. In a flash, his other hand was around Medved’s neck, throttling him.
“Medved!” the Bear Thief shouted as the other bears came out to see what was going on.
“You mangy bears are going to tell me everything about the man in the picture,” the man in purple said. “Even if I have to kill every single one of you.”
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The sun was already down by the time Lychee rode her motorbike up to the path leading to the shack that Matoto was staying in.
“Now I’m gonna see what the heck he’s doing here,” she told herself.
She walked into the shack, but it was completely empty, save for a futon on the ground.
“Where could he be?” she thought as she looked outside.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAA!” a voice cried from the forest.
As the birds flew away, Lychee looked over in the direction of the voice.
“Was that…him?” she asked herself.
She followed the sound of the cry deep into the forest.
As she entered into a small clearing in the forest, she saw a figure moving very rapidly. It was shirtless and throwing punches and kicks and even a head butt or two.
“Matoto?” she whispered to herself.
Then, Matoto suddenly stopped in his movements. He shut his eyes and concentrated very hard. His eyes then snapped open and he thrust his cupped hands forward. Then, he drew his hands to his side.
“Kamehame-HA!”
He thrust his cupped hands out as he shouted.
A few minutes later, Matoto broke his pose and mussed up his hair, growling.
“DAMMIT!” he shouted. “I can’t seem to form the Kamehameha! This sucks!”
“The…what?” Lychee said out loud.
Matoto’s ears pricked up as he heard Lychee speaking.
“Lychee? What are you doing here?” Matoto asked.
“Um….I was…wondering how you were doing…” she said.
“I-I’m doing fine,” he said as he walked over to a nearby tree and took down a towel hanging from a branch. “I’m just training.”
“Training what?” Lychee asked.
“I’m training….my moves! Yeah!” Matoto answered, slinging the towel around his neck.
“What about that last move?”
“What last move?”
“That Kame-whatever.”
“Oh, that! That was a…a Double Palm Thrust! Yeah!”
“Really? Something wasn’t supposed to happen after that?”
“No! Nothing at all!”
“Then why were you angry after you completed the technique?”
Matoto remained silent for a minute and then looked up into the sky.
“Such a lovely crescent moon we have here tonight, huh?”
“Matoto,” Lychee said. “You are going to tell me what you are practicing here.”
“And why should I tell you that?”
“Because you still owe me a car!”
Matoto flinched at what she said.
“You can’t be serious,” he said. “You’re going to lord this over me like some kind of debt?”
“You better believe it!” Lychee answered.
Matoto sighed heavily.
“Ok, let’s get somewhere comfortable.”
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In about ten minutes, they were sitting on the front porch of the shack. Matoto was staring at the stars and Lychee was staring at him as she sipped the tea he made for her.
“So, what is this…Kame-whatever?” she asked.
Matoto reached into his pocket and took something out.
“Do you know what this is?” he asked.
“It’s…the scroll Bind found,” Lychee answered.
Matoto opened the scroll to reveal what was inside. The pictures on the scroll showed that the subject should place two hands together, pull them back and thrust forward. At the end of the hands was a light blue ball of energy.
“Remember when I said that I graduated from the Turtle School?”
“Yeah.”
“I…kinda lied,” Matoto said, sheepishly. “I was really high up in my class, but…I left before graduation.”
“Why’d you leave if you were so close to graduation?” Lychee asked.
“Ever since I entered the Turtle School, I wanted to unlock my full potential,” Matoto said. “I thought training would help me do just that. Then, one night…”
“Yeah?”
“I saw my Master practicing this attack,” Matoto said. “He executed these moves and a beam of blue ki energy burst from his hands. It was the Kamehameha, the Turtle Destruction Wave. From what he told me, it was created by our founder and is considered the ultimate attack of our school. If he wasn’t in a special room, it would have taken out half, maybe even the entire dojo. I’ve never seen an attack like it before. Ever since I saw it, I wanted to use it. So, he gave me this scroll and told me to study it. That’s what I’ve been doing here for the past weeks and I’ve gotten nowhere! Now, I’ve heard that it took our founder about fifty years to master this technique, however, I don’t plan on training that long.”
“Wow! You really want to learn this attack, huh?” Lychee said.
“Of course!” Matoto said. “The style I use, the Turtles of the Four Elements, is missing the Turtle of Fire. After all, it was his main attack…”
“Who’s him?” Lychee asked. “The founder of your school?”
“MATOTO OF THE TURTLE SCHOOL!”
Both Matoto and Lychee looked up to see a man in a purple chang pao with the kanji for crane on the front.
“I’ve been looking all over for you!” the man shouted. “It’s time for payback!”